come to pass in the manner in which the prediction or promise specifies. Thus in the announcement (Matt. xxiv. 27), "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be;" his visible coming, which is compared to the shining of a lightning flash, is his literal, personal coming, not some other event; and that with which it is compared is a shaft of lightning that flashes athwart the firmament from east to west, not an event or appearance of another kind. In the promise, also, "As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David, my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me" (Jeremiah xxxiii. 22), it is the actual offspring of David, and the literal Levites, and not anything else, that are to be multiplied so as to exceed the power of enumeration as much as the host of heaven exceeds it, and as much as the sand of the sea transcends our power of measuring it.

As things of all kinds present resemblances to others, comparisons are framed betwixt objects of all classes. Thus agents are compared to agents, acts to acts, qualities to qualities, modes to modes, conditions to conditions, effects to effects; and these with one another in innumerable relations. Christ,

in his glorified humanity, is compared to a son of man (Rev. i. 14–15); his hairs to snow in whiteness; his feet to glowing brass in brilliancy; and his voice to the sound of a trumpet. Man is compared to the beasts that perish (Ps. xlix. 20); his tongue to a sharp razor (Ps. lii. 2); his counsels to deep water (Prov. xx. 5); his agitation, under fear, to the swaying of a forest under a powerful wind (Isa. vii. 2); and his frailty to that of a flower (Ps. ciii. 15). The agency of the Spirit on man is resembled to that of the wind on the trees, which is known only by its effects (John iii. 8). The righteousness of God is likened to the great mountains, vast, conspicuous, and immovable (Ps. xxxvi. 6); and the elevation of his thoughts above ours, to the height of the heavens above the earth (Isaiah lv. 9). And thus his various attributes, acts, and works; the faculties and affections, the thoughts and aims, the achievements and misfortunes of men; and the numberless objects and processes of the natural world, are illustrated by similitudes that are presented by other agents, objects, or acts.

The comparisons employed by the poets and orators are very numerous; and those of the second class especially, in which the resemblances are specified, contribute more than any other figures to the embellishment of their writings.

Akenside represents all intelligent beings as drawn to God by a power analogous to that of

gravity in the material world; which, in respect to men, is rather what should be than what is:

As the proud ocean to the attracting moon
Obedient swells, and every headlong stream
Devolves its winding waters to the main,
So all things which have life aspire to God,
The sun of being, boundless, unimpaired,
Centre of souls."

PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION, b. ii.

Goldsmith compares the minister of his Deserted Village to a cliff towering above the clouds, and basking in perpetual sunshine:

"The service past, around the pious man,

With steady zeal, each honest rustic ran;

E'en children followed, with endearing wile,

And plucked his gown, to share the good man's smile.
His ready smile a parent's warmth expressed,

Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distrest;
To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given,

But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven.
As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm;
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head."

"The quality of mercy is not strained.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath; it is twice blest,

It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes."
SHAKSPEARE.

In some similes, like one already quoted, several objects are presented as resembling that which is the subject of comparison.

"As from the wing no scar the sky retains, The parted wave no furrow from the keel,

So dies in human hearts the thought of death."

YOUNG.

"Like a boat on the wave

When a storm's in the sky;

Like the rose o'er a grave

When the winter is nigh;

Like a star when it streams

Through the blue heavens bright;

Like the fabric of dreams

'Mid the slumbers of night;

Like the lamp that is lit

In the mist o'er the moor,

Or the bubbles that flit

By the rude, rocky shore,

Is the vision of life in this tempest-tost clime;
A shadow fast fleeting-a moment of time."

"Like foam on the crest of the billow,

Which sparkles and sinks from the sight;
Like leaf of the wind-shaken willow,

Though transiently, beauteously bright;
Like dew-drops, exhaled as they glisten;
Like perfume, which dies soon as shed;
Like melody, hushed while we listen,

Is memory's dream of the dead."

BARTON

Many of the comparisons of natural objects are

very beautiful:

"The sea is like a silvery lake,

And o'er its calm the vessel glides

Gently, as if it feared to wake

The slumbers of the silent tides."

Night is in her wane; day's early flush
Glows like a hectic on her fading cheek,
Wasting its beauty."

"The dawning shines

MOORE.

LONGFELLOW.

Above the misty mountains, and a hue

Of vermil blushes in the cloudless blue,
Like health disporting on the downy cheek:
It is time's fairest moment. As a dove,
Shading the earth with azure wings of love,
The sky broods o'er us, and the cool winds speak

The

peace of nature."

PERCIVAL.